Design Principle Analysis for the English Textbook Series Our World Through English

Abstract

This paper proposes a deeper analysis of one key element of the CRADLE Project than was provided in the 2009 evaluation. The Our World Through English textbook is the instrument that can be most closely controlled by the CRADLE Project, where its fundamental pedagogical principles can be most clearly expressed to provide constant guidance for supervisors, teachers and students and where the values identified by the Project as essential for future professional success among students can be illustrated. It is therefore paramount that the pedagogical principles chosen as guideposts for its development conform to international standards of quality EFL textbooks. Nonetheless, even if this turns out to be the case, these principles can only be of use to those involved at any level of the CRADLE project if they are clearly reflected in the quality and interrelation among objectives, activities and assessment tools in the textbook. Therefore, this paper seeks to cast light on the following question: To what extent are the pedagogical principles used as a framework for developing the textbook reflected in the instructional design including the quality and interrelation among the objectives, activities and assessment tools? This paper further aims to provide recommendations to the CRADLE project to bridge any discrepancy found between the guiding pedagogical principles and the instructional design. The present is both an assessment and an evaluation of the OWTE textbook series. The assessment portion provides a theoretical description of how well the instructional design expresses the pedagogical principles the authors used for this purpose. This will be mainly achieved through comparing the Our World Through English series with other recognized EFL series with the same specific aim to indicate how well the series should perform in the hands of qualified professionals. These appreciations will then be complemented by an evaluation based on data collected from students and teachers of the series to indicate how the series has performed in fact.